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Bed-wetting, or nocturnal enuresis, is something that affects millions of children world wide. Primary nocturnal enuresis is a regular history of bed-wetting (at least twice a month, but usually more frequently), while secondary nocturnal enuresis can have long periods (at least 6 months) of no incidents followed by sudden bouts of bed wetting. They each have different causes and different treatments. Primary enuresis is medically classified as never being dry since birth, while secondary enuresis denotes the occurrence of bed-wetting after a successful dry period of six months.

Primary nocturnal enuresis (NE) is simply a physical inability to control the bladder at night. It usually starts as the patient is a baby. Secondary NE is a situational event that develops after the person is already sleep potty trained and is usually brought on by some sort of change, be it environment, work, school, death in the family, medical conditions (such as diabetes or UTIs) or any number of issues. The main concern with Secondary NE is finding the cause.[1]

Steps

Method1

Primary Nocturnal Enuresis

Recognize that in most cases bedwetting is something that a child must simply grow out of. An unfortunate thing about bedwetting is the shame and embarrassment that this causes mature children.

2

Try to limit the bed-wetting.

Remind your child to go to the bathroom immediately before they go to bed.

Limit late night fluid intake. Usually no fluid intake within 3 hours prior to bedtime. If your child goes to bed several hours earlier than you do, it is often helpful to wake them up for a bathroom visit before you go to bed.

Avoid giving them chocolate or drinks that contain caffeine as they can increase the the urine output.

Consider getting a device that sounds when the sheets start becoming wet. Bed-wetting alarms that will wake the bed-wetter the moment they start to urinate. It is advisable to protect the mattress with a rubber pad in case the alarm fails to wake them in time. Bed Wetting alarms are more successful than medical therapies.

3

Support your children.

Praise the child for staying dry. Never shame or punish them for wetting their bed. Consider getting a calendar and noting every dry night. The child is then rewarded for an agreed upon number of dry nights. If he has a relapse, you simply restart the count. This is always done in a matter of fact fashion. Your child is absolutely not doing this on purpose, and introducing shame and hurt into this situation certainly does not hasten the resolution process nor does it enhance the parent-child relationship.

Confide in the child the fact that you were also a bed wetter, if in fact you were. Explain that it might be hereditary, so that it will make him feel less guilty and less ashamed of himself.

4

Speak to your pediatrician. If you feel the problem is large enough and the person in question is over 5 years old, ask your doctor about apo-desmopressin. This is a drug that reduces the amount of urine produced. Find out all you can about this and its side effects. Desmopressin is a potent hormone that prevents the kidney from making urine. Enuresis typically recurs when Desmopressin is stopped. Desmopressin is primarily useful when your child must remain dry for a short period of time - class trip, camping trip, overnight stay with friends, etc.

Method2

Secondary Nocturnal Enuresis

1

Determine the root cause of why the child became a bed wetter after already being nighttime potty trained. Causes can include:

Medical conditions like diabetes, constipation, urinary tract infections, spinal cord trauma.[2] Your Pediatrician will usually check a urine sample collected first thing in the morning - to rule out diabetes mellitus/too much sugar in the urine, diabetes insipidus/too dilute urine, and occult urinary tract infections. Your pediatrician will also carefully examine your child's perineum and the reflexes around the perineum and lower extremities to rule out any neurological conditions that are causative of enuresis.

Psychological stress including divorce, death of a loved one, a housing or school relocation, or family tension.[3]

Community Q&A

I'm 12 and I still wet the bed. I'm going on a school camp next week & I'm worried I will embarrass myself by wetting the bed there. The whole grade is going. What should I do?

wikiHow Contributor

Community Answer

Make sure you know where all of the nearest toilets are and don't be afraid to go to one whenever you want. You can keep a spare pair of pants under your pillow or wrap some toilet paper around the bottom of your pants so it absorbs most of the urine (the paper is simple to get rid of). Also make sure you take as many pairs of pants with you as you can so you will not run out.

I am 12 and I just started wetting the bed. My friend is having a slumber party, what should I do?

wikiHow Contributor

Community Answer

Don't drink any liquids in the hour or two before you go to bed. Go to the bathroom right before bed, and if you wake up in the middle of the night, go to the bathroom again, even if you don't feel like you have to.

I'm 8. I wet the bed for the first time in 6 years at my dad's and he made me wear night time pants, but I don't usually have a problem. What happened?

wikiHow Contributor

Community Answer

Your dad was just trying to make sure he didn't have to clean up again, he wasn't trying to make you feel bad or anything. Sometimes accidents just happen, and there's no real reason for it. Other times, this can happen because of stress. Did something make you upset? Was someone bothering you at school? It was probably just a fluke accident, but if something is bothering you, it would help to talk to someone about it.

Tips

Do not punish or yell at a child for wetting their bed. They will feel bad enough about it without you coming down hard on them. Praise them for effort and for success. Reassure them that you understand their embarrassment.

Make sure your child uses the bathroom before going to bed every night.

Try to not give your children drinks 2 to 3 hours prior of going to bed unless needed.

Recognize that you are still beautiful, whether or not you wet the bed or not. Bedwetting is just a "minor" mistake that will not make you any less of a person than another.

Take them to the doctor to find out if they have urinary problems.

Cleanup, and make it seem to be casual and easy. You can also teach them to to change the sheets themselves, not as a punishment, but to make them feel comfortable about being able to take care of themselves.[5] If the child is old enough, it is usually helpful for him/her to remove the wet sheets, place them in the washer, and place clean-dry linen on the bed. It seems that his/her contribution to his/her condition enhances the eventual resolution of enuresis.

Try to think about the rewards of not wetting the bed right before you fall asleep. It encourages you to stay dry.

Article Info

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 35 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. Together, they cited 5 references. This article has also been viewed 67,292 times.